Since 1983-84, there have been a total of 212 50-point games in the NBA. Russell Westrook has two of those. His performance last night was the second least efficient 50-point game in the 33 years of data available at basketball-reference.com. His other 50-point offer is the 7th most inefficient.
Here's a list of the most inefficient 50-point games of the last 33 years:
Points-Per-Shot
Chris Webber (2001) 1.09 (51 points on 47 FGA)
Russell Westbrook (2016) 1.16 (51 points on 44 FGA)
Kobe Bryant(2016) 1.20 (60 points on 50 FGA)
Kobe Bryant (2007) 1.20 (53 points on 44 FGA)
Kobe Bryant (2006) 1.22 (50 points on 41 FGA)
Allen Iverson (2000) 1.25 (50 points on 41 FGA)
Russell Westbrook (2015) 1.26 (54 points on 43 FGA)
Just for the sake of comparison, Damian Lillard also has two career 50-point games. In both of those games, Dame took 28 shots.
So, Westbrook = 105 points on 87 FGA, Lillard = 101 points on 56 shots. When he scores 50+ points, Russell Westbrook misses an additional 15.5 shots per game.
Westbrook's 17-44 = .386 FG% is the lowest FG% for any 50-point game since the NBA started tracking FGA 33 years ago.
Going 17-44 at home, in overtime, against a lottery team playing 3 teenagers hardly seems to justify that level of chest thumping.
Russell Westbrook has an opportunity for a record breaking season. He could break any, or all, of the following records:
USG% (his 2014-15 season is already the second highest in history)
Field Goal Attempts
Field Goals Missed
He could very well set the new standard for inefficient, volume scoring.
BNM